Ok, I'll admit it right away, I didn't second read it, but I don't have the time and I don't know if I'll have much time the next days due to school, so I thought I'd just put it up. If anyone of you'd like to be my beta, please tell me, because that would be really great. Anyways, enjoy the chapter and don't forget, the more you review, the less long you'll have to wait for the next update.


CtL – Chapter 7

„André, you're assigned together with Pierre to go to Verona and get some intel from a contact. Your flight's going tomorrow, so you got the rest of the day off, get your stuff together. Good Luck." Julia instructed Vaughn. She had stopped by his desk this morning after avoiding him successfully the last week. He was obviously surprised to see her now and especially about her talking to him for the first time since he had seen her with Sark.

"Ehm. Ok, I'll tell Pierre then." Vaughn finally answered.

"Good, good. Anything else?" Julia asked sounding like she didn't really cared, but to be true she was more than interested in every little thing he said or he gave away. She had been together with Sark the whole last week and although she enjoyed his company and how he always knew the right words to say, she had still wondered about how Vaughn was taking everything.

"No, everything's fine."

"Ok." Julia said and walked away indifferently. Constantly resisting the urge to turn around and go back to Vaughn, getting him to admit what was going on in his mind. She sighed, she had been awake since 4 a.m. due to Sark having left this morning. He had left early because their bosses had wanted to meet with him and it seemed urgently.

As soon as Julia was in her office she collapsed in her chair, shaking her head at herself.

Here I am, totally confused and devastated without even knowing exactly why. I'm already missing Sark, although he's only a few hours gone. Never thought I'd be that kind of girl. But he's like my anchor in this whole mess that's called my life. He knows everything about me and understands me without blaming anything of what I did or do. Well, he knows everything expect for the little unimportant detail that I'm theoretically still working for the CIA, just like Vaughn and Weiss. And, to add a little bit more drama I'm still feeling confused when Vaughn's around, I still think about him way too much. I should have probably just talked to Weiss instead of Vaughn, it makes things just more complicated and painful for both of us. Vaughn doesn't love me anymore and I'm falling for Sark, whatever it is between us, it's in the past and these "feelings" are just lingering because we never got closure.

Sydney got a headache from even thinking about the whole thing that she had gotten herself into. And if she hadn't gotten pretty drunk last night together with Sark she would take some aspirins, but she knew from experience that her reaction on alcohol and painkillers wasn't very good and in the end it was just even more pain.

However Julia grabbed some painkillers from her desk and filled a glass with water. She needed a clear head to run the office, so what if she felt later even worse? She would just take some more. She starred a few moments at the pills in her hand, contemplating if she should really do this. If she would become one if "these girls", who got drunk every night and took every day more painkillers.

Suddenly someone knocked at her door. She took the pills and sipped from her water glass. Then she took a deep breath and called with a calm voice:
"Come in!" When the door opened and someone entered the room she was pretty much stunned. Or maybe it was just the rest alcohol in her blood.

"Pierre, nice to see you." Julia said slowly. Weiss had avoided her nearly as much as Vaughn.

"Yeah, is it a bad moment or do you have a minute?" Weiss asked nervously.

"No, no, it's fine. I got nothing to do right now, really." Julia assured him curiously, motioning for him to sit down. "So, what's the problem?"

"Ehm, André gave me the assignment maps and I was wondering about one thing. The mission is to get some intel from a contact. What I don't understand is why we have to go to Verona for this. Why can't the source just send his information per mail?"

Julia looked at him surprised. It was pretty unusual for an agent to question his mission. Weiss had never done that in the CIA office, at least not when Sydney had been around. She was about to ask him what was really bothering him when she remembered two things that changed everything. First, Julia didn't know Weiss good enough to ask such a personal question. Second, Weiss was probably just trying to get more information out of her.

Sydney felt a pang of pain in her heart at the thought of her best friend betraying her, but the calculating Julia in her wasn't impressed at all. It was a weak try to get intel from the supposedly enemy what most likely meant that he and Vaughn wasn't getting really far with their other tries.

Julia was about to say something impolite about Weiss better minding his own business when the phone ringed. She mouthed a "sorry" to Weiss and took the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey darling. I just landed in Munich. And I'm terribly missing you, although I have a hell of a headache." Sarks voice came through the phone and Sydney had the uncomfortable feeling that Weiss could understand every word Sark said.

"Hey. Yeah, I got a headache too, or better had, I just took some painkillers and they should be working every moment now. You should do that too. After all you're the one who has a business meeting every moment." Julia answered with a soft smile on her face, she tried to suppress it, but she couldn't help but be happy to hear Sark's voice, even when Weiss was in her office and listening.

"You don't do very well with painkillers and alcohol, forgot that already? Oh what I wanted to tell you, Sy-" Sark began with a worried voice, but Julia cut him off before he could call her by her real name.

"Ehm, Julian, I got an agent here who's waiting for me to do my job. I'll call ya later, alright?"

"Oh, of course. I'll call you as soon as I have some free time. Love you."

"Love you too." Julia said in a light tone. Then she hung up and watched Weiss closely, searching for signs that he has heard Sark nearly calling her "Sydney". But Weiss had his poker face back on and so Julia couldn't see any signs of anything.
"Well Pierre. I don't really see in how far the reason for this mission is any of your business. I don't know how you handled things back in France, but here I give the orders and you're following them. Do you understand me?" Julia asked with a distanced business tone.

"Yeah, of course, I do, it's just that-" Weiss stuttered but they were interrupted again, this time by a woman storming in the office.

"Jules, you won't believe this!" Mia called and jumped up and down in front of Julia's desk.

"What happened?" Julia asked again with an unconscious smile on her face.

"Rico just proposed to me!" Mia squealed.

"What? Wow. Oh Mia, I'm so happy for you!" Julia said delighted and genuinely happy for her friend. She stood up quickly, forgetting Weiss for the moment and hugging her friend tightly.

"When did that happen?" She asked when the two had parted again while she was admiring the ring on Mia's hand.

"Just 15 minutes ago. I told him "yes" and then I came directly to you, after all I know you'd do the same. You're my best friend and you introduced me to Rico. Oh, Jules, I can't say with words how happy I am. I think I'm going to cry."

"You? Crying? That's so not going to happen girl. You're like the toughest agent I know, nothing gets you shed a tear!" Julia joked grinning at her best friend's joy. Only then Mia noticed Weiss still sitting in his chair.

"Oh, ehm, sorry I interrupted you two." She quickly apologized to Julia, searching her gaze to see if it was ok.

"Don't worry. Pierre and I were finished anyways, besides, you're the only one who's allowed to disturb me any time, you know that!" Julia brushed the matter off.

"Well, me and Julian, right?" Mia giggled, being the old self again.

"Yeah, right, you two. And, if we want to start a list, Lilly too."

"Ok, I'm going to go now. Got to call Lilly, if I don't she'll be furious. See you later, yeah?"

"Of course, now go!" Julia laughed and closed the door behind her friend. Then she turned back around to Weiss again.

"Since we're clearly not meant to have a quiet conversation, I'd say we're finished for now, don't you think? Or is there anything else we need to talk about? Because I really want to go and celebrate with my friends." Julia said smiling, but failing at trying to at least appear polite.

"Yes, of course." Weiss said and left the office.

Julia went back to her desk and was about to shut down her computer when she spotted coincidently her call-list. She had a program to trace every number that called her on her office phone. The last call had lasted 2 and a half minutes and was made from Vienna.

"What the hell…?" She murmured and clicked on the data.

Sark had called her last, but hadn't he said he just arrived in Munich? Why was the program saying he was in Vienna?
Why is he lying to me? Is he at the meeting to tell on me and blow my cover? But why would he do that now? He could have done it weeks before. Besides, he loves me, doesn't he?

Julia shook her head confused and slightly afraid. She wanted to know what was going on, but she had to think about this whole thing first. So she shut down her PC, grabbed her keys and her purse and left the office.

Vienna…

Sark was leaving the airport, putting his cell back into his bag. He was wondering who had been with her in her office. It had to be some agent, because she had cut him off when he had nearly called her "Sydney".

She sounded so… comfortable, not in the least like she was being observed. So it had to be Weiss or Vaughn. But what would Vaughn be doing in her office? From what I know he avoided her ever since last week. Although… Now I'm not there anymore, maybe he'll try to… No. He wouldn't. Vaughn's an honorable man. That's the reason why I don't have to be worried at all. Sydney might still thinks she's a good guy, but deep in her heart she's an independent soul, longing for adventures and fun instead of duty and safeness, something the good guys can't give her.

He walked over to a limo standing right in front the exit. He opened one of the backdoors and climbed in, not wondering one moment if it was really his limo.

"Good to see you Julian. I haven't heard from you in a while. I was getting worried." A dark woman's voice greeted him.

"Good to see you again too, Irina. I've been busy. The job a few weeks ago had been pretty interesting and the game has changed."

"You're talking about the men that died in Venedig? Fortelli might be dead now, but his son is trying to overtake his empire. And it looks like he'll succeed, so everything will be going back to normal soon enough." Irina disagreed with a small smile.

"I came to the same conclusion. But, no, I wasn't talking about the Italian Covenant leader. I've been talking about a relatives of yours who's in Rome right now as we're speaking."

"What? I thought Nadja was in Argentina!" Irina inquired confused and upset that her daughter was doing something she didn't know about.

"She is, no need to worry about her. I was talking about your other daughter. The one that's supposedly dead."

"Sydney? She's alive?"

"Breathing and laughing in Rome everyday, working for the Covenant. They think they've brainwashed and tortured her enough. I think you've already heard from her and Arwin had even the pleasure of meeting her. Familiar with the name Julia Thorne?"

Irina gasped untypically and Sark grinned amused and satisfied to have shocked his boss. Irina recovered quickly. She grabbed a bottle of champagne from the mini-refrigerator in the limo and filled two glasses. Then she gave one to Sark and told him with a grin:

"I think we have a lot to talk about. When do you have to leave for Germany for that meeting?"

"Late tonight. Cheers!"

"Cheers!"


Not that much of a good chapter, but I thought it's time that Irina's coming back into the picture... Please tell me what you think, reviews always make me want to write more and then it's just flowing better, you know?